A/N: For Warning and Disclaimer, refer back to Chapter 1.

Chapter 2: Phantom

Argilla looked at herself at her vanity table without much enthusiasm. She was damn tired. She had not been able to sleep.

Why?

Because she saw only his face the moment she closed her eyes. She brushed her fluffy pink hair absentmindedly, loosely applying the hair clips needed to support the bun of her hair.

She didn't know how it came to be but the next thing she knew, she had heard a transmission in her room. She listened to the dissemination machine sleepily. She blinked her eyes over and over; she had been asleep at her vanity table. For how long?

'Who cares…?' she internally grumbled.

You are requested to report at the Strategy Room ASAP. Repeat. You are requested to report at the Strategy Room ASAP.

In that instant, she scrambled to her feet and headed for her door.

Argilla walked through the hallways and headed for the Strategy Room. She stifled a yawn that threatened to escape her lips. The meeting was early; 0600 hours. And the fact the she hadn't had any sleep the previous night with thanks to Serph's face haunting her every time she closed her eyes only added salt to the wound.

The word 'sleepy' was an understatement; she was exhausted.

She growled. Her relaxing bubble bath the previous night was supposed to calm her nerves and give her the relaxation she deserved. But no; Serph had to ruin it all for her. Not to mention, the humiliation she faced at his hands and Heat's eyes.

Heat.

He was going to be more of a problem than Serph.

Serph was silent and kept to himself. He wasn't going to make her feel awkward.

Right?

Right.

But Heat was another issue.

Heat was loud and boisterous. He saw them last night. Her mind did an instant replay of last night's events and she groaned at what she remembered.

It wasn't bad enough that Heat saw her naked. Heat saw her naked within Serph's arms. She did a double-take. She was naked, Serph was in the bath with her, Serph had his hands on her.

Oh boy, this would really make good publicity for her.

Yup, no doubt about it.

Unless, she could get Heat to shut up. That was, if he hadn't already spread the word.

Argilla cracked her knuckles; she was going to have a talk with our darling Heat.

She trudged into the strategy room, still in a world within her head.

"Ahem."

The voice roused Argilla from her dream world and she saw that all eyes of her teammates were centered on her.

'What are they looking at?' she wondered curiously and a bit exasperatedly.

"Wat happened to you hair?" Cielo asked, having a pasted look of horror on his face.

Her hair? What happened to it? Nothing.

Wait.

"What?" she asked. Her head hurt. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep and Cielo's dumb question wasn't helping.

"Jes look at de mirror ja?" he said, pointing to the mirror beside her.

Argilla's eyes wondered from Cielo to Heat who was snickering to Serph who just looked at her intently. She blushed slightly and before it worsened, she turned to her right side and looked into the mirror.

Okay.

There was the problem.

She gasped at what she saw, her eyes widening and her jaw agape.

Her usual pink hair put into two Chinese buns were put only in one bun, the other half was loose and disheveled.

She groaned, 'Why do these things happen to me?' Thinking of how much of a mess she was already in, having a bad-hair day wasn't so bad in comparison. So, she shrugged her shoulders, 'So? Whatever. I don't care.'

She turned her head to her teammates, "Well, I assume you called us here, Gale, for a reason. A reason," she rolled her eyes, "that is more pressing than my hair."

Heat, who was snickering, smirked at her, "What's the matter? Had a rough night?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She blushed and from the corner of her eyes, she saw Serph flush red as well.

"What about you Serph? You seem to have had a rough night as well?" Heat smirked at their leader.

This time, Gale interjected, "What do you mean Heat?"

He turned his unfeeling eyes from Heat to Serph, "Serph, has something happened when we were away?"

Now, Heat burst out laughing when Serph and Argilla both yelled a desperate "No!!" at the same time.

"I'll say something happened." Heat laughed.

"What happened Heat?" Gale asked curiously.

Argilla looked desperately at Serph; a look that said "DO SOMETHING QUICK!!"

Serph could only look an apologetic look at his distraught teammate. Argilla's eyes burned; this had to stop now!

"Nothing happened!" she said suddenly, cutting off Heat. She looked at Heat menacingly and Heat understood, shutting his lips.

Gale raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Argilla, you should know that withholding information is a crime. If there is something amiss, you should tell your CO."

Argilla crossed her arms, "Well, this isn't concerning anything Gale. This was a private matter. I just didn't get any sleep last night. Well," she pointed to her hair, "you guys know now how insomnia affects me." she scowled.

"Well, then, if that's all, then let us proceed to the briefing." Gale stated sternly.

"We have intercepted the Vanguards and the information seems to be accurate."

Argilla tried to pay attention to what Gale had said but nothing seemed to get into her head. All she wanted to do was run from there and crawl back into her bed; and never come out.

Ever.

"…an offensive was planned…"

"The task force will enter…

"the leader is to be…"

"We are certain…"

"…the mission will…"

"victory is…"

"Dismissed."

Argilla didn't even notice that they had been debriefed until Gale came up to her, "Argilla, is there something wrong? Are you ill? Because if you are, I advice you to report to the med lab."

"Huh? No, I'm not."

"Consider that as an order soldier."

She groaned, "Alright."

Argilla marched out of the med lab, her face turning red from annoyance.

'All I wanted was some sleep!! Is that too freaking much to ask?!'

She had been detained in the med lab for hours, under the order of Gale. Gale had been so concerned at what Heat had said and at what had transpired at the meeting that he was sure to have Argilla have a full physical and psychological check up.

Everything was normal.

As she had expected.

All that was wrong was that, "You just need rest. That's all." She could still hear the voice of the medic in her head.

She lightly touched her hair, feeling the buns, checking if they were out of place.

'Well,' she thought smugly, 'that's it for my bad-hair day.'

She walked out of the building and headed for the barrack when she felt a warm hand draped over her shoulder. She immediately whipped around to meet the warm yet steely silver eyes of their leader, "Serph!"

"Are…you alright?" he asked slowly, his eyes peering into her own.

"…Yeah, I'm fine."

Argilla felt the blood rushing to her cheeks once more as they were engulfed in an awkward silence.

"I…" he began hesitantly.

Argilla could feel that he would want to talk about the previous night; which wasn't exactly Argilla's top-listed conversation topics at the moment. She just wanted to run, but his eyes kept her in place.

"…I…about last night…"

There.

He said it.

He wanted to talk about the previous night.

She was going, going…going…

She was gone.

Argilla dashed from Serph and had headed in a random direction. It was still early at Muladhara and their soldiers were scattered around.

Good for her. She could easily blend in and lose him.

xxxxx

Serph sighed.

Why did she always make things difficult for him? Scratch that. Why did she always make things complicated for him?

He had lost sight of her as she disappeared into the crowd. He frowned in annoyance.

He hadn't meant to scare her away. He didn't know what he had done wrong. He had just wanted to apologize to her but when he touched her, he felt a tingle of electricity surge through his system.

She probably felt it too.

But, the feeling was as pleasurable as it was enigmatic.

So, then why did she run from him?

Serph decided to find her. He looked around himself and decided to scale the walls of the tall buildings. He was going to find her and he was going to comb the entire area if he had to.

He needed to know if she felt for him what he felt for her.

The feeling was totally confusing. But, he couldn't get enough of it. In his desperation for the pleasurable touch, he had even dared to drape his hands on some of the other female members of Embryon. But none of them gave him that tingle. Only she can.

If that was so, then, it was all the more reason for him to find her.

He stood atop of the tallest building and used his optical scanner/locator to find her. As accurate as a falcon eyeing its prey, he found her. She was often turning back to see if she was being followed. She was still in the crowd.

Using the speed and agility that he was known for, he jumped from one building to another, quickly catching up to her. He overtook her and predicted her movements.

'Turn left…and then right…on the alley corner.' he thought knowingly. He watched as she did turn left.

He needed to move quickly. He needed to catch her.

xxxxx

Serph was nowhere to be seen.

'Maybe I lost him…' she thought with feigned confidence.

'No…he wouldn't give up like that…Something smells fishy…'

The hairs on the back of her neck stood as she felt a warm body pressed up against her back.

It just damned felt good.

But at the same time, it just felt too freaky. Serph was her CO. She shouldn't be having these sorts of feelings for him. It was…wrong.

But, she can neither deny nor admit to him that what she was feeling was unreal or untrue.

She heard him groan and felt him press himself further against her, pressing her, in turn on the wall. She involuntarily moaned. She suddenly remembered her silent protest and pressed herself onto the wall, in an attempt to put space in between hers and Serph's heated bodies.

Tough luck, she was already cornered.

Serph's eyes were closed now, letting his body and his hands feel for him. He breathed in her scent; cherry blossoms…

His hands latching themselves onto her hips and from there traveling up to her torso sent shivers down her spine.

Argilla's mind was screaming bloody murder but her body refused to comply. She involuntarily leaned into his touch.

The sound of nearby murmuring snapped her back to reality. But Serph on the other hand seemed not to notice and continued nuzzling her neck.

She moaned, "Serph…"

She took his hands in hers and pried them gently from her body. She turned around and looked at him, whispering icily, "We're still in the middle of the street! We can't do this…!"

With those words, she ran from him once more. He stood there, stunned at just what transpired. It was clear to him now that she was the only person, the only woman who could awaken such strong urges of desires from him.

What they had just shared was proof of that. And what was more, was that it proved to him that she had felt it too. She had felt that burning desire within her as well.

But…why did she run? Again?

He frowned in confusion.

Was it possible that she did not want him the way he wanted her?

Then, why did her body react the way it did?

Was it possible that her body reacted separately from her conscious mind? Was it possible for him as well?

Did that mean that he did not truly desire her, but his body did?

He growled in frustration.

This was getting out of hand.

He thought that by reestablishing physical contact with her, he could better understand what he was feeling; what his body was going through…but then, he came out more confused as ever.

Now, he had another factor to consider: a person's conscious mind.

Bodily reactions were predictable, he mused. Like insects that responded to situation and stimuli, their bodies were made as such that they involuntarily leaned towards sources of warmth when cold, shivered when it's cold and so on.

But, where did one's mind fit in?

He was going to find her.

He was going to make her want him the way he wanted her.

xxxxx

"Heat!!" She yelled his name as she saw him walking toward his room.

Heat whipped around to see her in a very displeased manner. He immediately picked up his smirk and plastered it on his poker face, "Hey, what's up?"

"Shut up Heat!" she said sternly.

"Listen," she began, her tone changing from the demanding voice to a mellowed one, "about last night…"

"You want me to be quiet eh?" he asked, his grin widening.

"Yes, basically." she agreed, her tone, flat.

"Well…" he leered, "I would do it…but for a price…"

Argilla glared daggers into his face and muttered darkly, "You're going to keep quiet about it Heat, because if you don't you just might wake up one day castrated!"

Heat sweat-dropped but was amused nonetheless. He figured Argilla to be the gentlest member of their team. She wouldn't dare harm him; besides, she can't. But hey, she was dead serious about this issue, so, Heat reckoned that he'd let her have her way.

"Alright Argilla. You can count on me."

"You better keep your word!" she snapped, crossing her arms.

xxxxx